Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
A video message by the Pope addressed to citizens of the US was made public. Speaking English, he offers "a heartfelt greeting and an invitation to prayer. As you know, I shall only be able to visit 2 cities: Washington and New York. The intention behind my visit, though, is to reach out spiritually to all Catholics in the United States".
(And: Full text of message)
The archbishop of Washington, DC, is expecting Benedict XVI's arrival to the US this month to remind Catholics there that they are part of the universal Church.
In his visit to the UN in New York, Benedict XVI is expected to talk about the basis of human rights, according to a Vatican spokesman. His visit to the UN, which will take place in the morning of Friday, April 18 [when Carter is in Syria; see below], and last 3 hours, will mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Bishop Wenski of Orlando, chairman of the US bishops' Committee on International Policy, said "He is not just another player in a global game of power politics. He is not a politician but the Bishop of Rome and the universal pastor of the Catholic Church. This is not to say that he does not have his pulse on the world.
"Benedict XVI will address the UN as a religious leader, a moral leader -- but a uniquely informed one. And just as he will have something to say to Catholics, he will have something to say to the UN and the world." He expects the Pope to "challenge the world's political leaders as well."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will travel to the US later this week to hold talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, they will meet on Friday and are expected to discuss a wide range of topics like the Middle East conflict, Iran's nuclear program and the situation in the Balkans. On Saturday, Steinmeier will go on to Harvard University, where he will give a speech on transatlantic relations.
[Europress] [Russopress]
In a Spiegel interview, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak discusses the peace process with the Palestinians, tensions between Israel and Syria and his ambition to become prime minister.
Tensions on Israel's northern border have increased significantly as the Jewish state began a week of the largest ever military exercises and emergency drills in the country's history on Sunday, raising fear and suspicion from its arch enemies Hezbollah, Syria and Iran that a preemptive strike could be in the offing.
Former President Jimmy Carter is reportedly preparing an unprecedented meeting with the leader of Hamas, an organization that the US government considers one of the leading terrorist threats in the world.
The Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Tuesday that Carter was planning a trip to Syria for mid-April, during which he would meet with Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, on April 18.
Some Carter critics called the latest reports typical of the ex-president. "It's about par for the course from President Carter, demonstrating a lack of judgment typical of what he does," said John Bolton. "To go to Syria to visit Hamas at this point is just an ill-timed, ill-advised decision on his part."
[WAR: So what if Carter is assassinated in a neocon false-flag op in order to get the US public emotionally behind a strike on Iran? It would get 2 birds with 1 stone: 1) get rid of their "thorn in the side" Carter "the anti-Semite", and 2) have their excuse for war.
IF he's killed on the 18th, then war would be just a few days away -- on Passover or the 1st day of Unleavened Bread. And in the Jewish way of thinking, it would be very symbolic that the Iranian military would be crushed during the same time-frame as when the Egyptian army was crushed during the exodus from Egypt.]
The war in Afghanistan is spreading across the country, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes this year, the international Red Cross said Tuesday during the visit of its president. "There is growing insecurity and a clear intensification of the armed conflict, which is no longer limited to the south but has spread to the east and west."
France's president Nicholas Sarkozy proclaimed he would send 700 soldiers to Afghanistan to fight Taliban. But this handful of French troops is merely a gesture that will not change the war, which is going badly against the US and NATO. Most parliamentarians agreed that France's military contribution to the little Afghan war was about pleasing Washington rather than "waging war on terrorism."
The right wing Sarkozy is trying to ingratiate himself with the Bush Administration. "Sarko" hopes the US will allow France to take command of NATO South. But the US shows little willingness to give up this prized Mediterranean command.
"Sarko" is very much an ideological mate of Bush and other rightist governments in Canada, Holland, Denmark, Israel and, until recently, Australia. I call it the Rightwing International. Many French call Sarkozy a "neoconservative" or "son of Bush."
But Sarkozy is no George Bush. He is Europe-centric and determined to work with his allies. But his relations with France's most important partner, Germany, are rocky due to a personality clash between its very different leaders.
General Petraeus and Ambassador Cocker were critical of Iran when they testified Tuesday before the Senate, barely giving credit for an Iranian-brokered cease-fire that curbed the killing after a week of Shiite-on-Shiite bloodshed in southern Iraq and Baghdad.
As they spoke, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr threatened to unleash his Mahdi Army militia against US and Iraqi forces. Once again, it was Iran that stepped into the political vacuum and urged a halt to militia attacks into the heavily fortified Green Zone.
(And: Al-Sadr: Petraeus' ghost)
In a world spinning rapidly out of control, and towards total nuclear chaos, Russian Military Officials are reporting today that US Special Forces Troops stationed in Afghanistan launched an attack against Pakistan's Khushab Nuclear Facility which produces enriched plutonium for that Muslim Nations nuclear arsenal.
Western media sources, though confirming an explosion, and 2 deaths, at the Khushab Nuclear Facility have issued one of their 'standard' news blackouts on this attack as the US prepares for its imminent escalation of the Middle East War with an attack on Iran, and which, these reports state, this attack upon Pakistan was meant to deter that Nation from becoming involved in.
Though the US has been reported to be frantically working through 'secret channels' to insure the survival of Pakistan's dictator, Pervez Musharraf, against that Nations newly installed government, his fall appears imminent, and with his ouster the Americans would lose their only ally in that volatile region.
As the price of oil on the World markets surge towards record highs, and as the American people are now being warned that their petrol prices are about to go over $4.00 a gallon, and as the US Federal Reserve continues to pump billions of more dollars into their rapidly failing banking system, it goes without saying that the once great United States appears, indeed, to be on the verge of imminent collapse.
Unfortunately, however, the numerous warnings being issued to the American people continue to appear to be falling upon ears that can't hear, eyes that can't see, and minds that can't think.
China had been hoping to show itself as a worldly and tolerant host of the Olympic Games. But the sporting festival has already become a PR disaster for the country. Repression in Tibet and ongoing crackdowns have revealed the extent to which the country remains a police state.
(German press: Olympic flame now "symbolizes repressive regime")
(Op-ed: Beware an angry China)
(And: Australian PM warns China)
(And: The Tibet card)
Iran's Foreign Minister has described the prospect of Tehran-Beijing cooperation in the African continent as bright. He said the Chinese presence in Africa prevents certain states from creating an energy monopoly. He added that Iran supports the notion of a united China and called for closer ties between their countries.
President Ahmadinejad says refusal to bow to pressure from bullying powers does not mean Tehran is pursuing nuclear weaponry. He said Iran has never been and will never be an aggressive nation. "The UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed Iran's nuclear program is peaceful."
The Munich-based energy and electrical giant Siemens has with "high likelihood" delivered sophisticated data surveillance systems to Iran, an Austrian investigative journalist disclosed in a public broadcast ORF report on Monday.
Speaking from Vienna, journalist Erich Moechel told The Jerusalem Post that he was "99% certain" that "Monitoring Centers," used to track mobile and land-line phone conversations, had been sent to Iran. These systems could enable the Iranian intelligence service to document conversations between Israel and Iran and "build a communication profile."
Siemens, which conducts an over-$500-million trade relationship with Iran, provides vital engineering and technological equipment for Iran's infrastructure.
Amid a massive 5-day civil defence drill, a senior Israeli cabinet minister has provocatively threatened Iran with complete destruction in retaliation for any attack. The chilling threat was made amid rising tensions with Syria and continuing hints of a preemptive Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Any Israeli strike on Iran would require a green light from Washington. It is significant therefore that over the past month President Bush, Vice President Cheney and CIA chief Michael Hayden have all rejected the NIE findings.
Significant sections of the Bush administration, together with bulk of the Israeli political establishment, are prepared to use any uranium enrichment capacity—even that permitted under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty—as the pretext for an attack on Iran.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe says Iran's plan to expand its uranium enrichment program will certainly have dire consequences. And White House press secretary Dana Perino said global pressure would eventually wreck havoc on the Islamic Republic.
The US envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, Gregory Schulte, says Iran will pay the price for expanding its uranium enrichment program.
Aside from the expected drivel and boilerplate rhetoric, the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker before Congress on Tuesday had a few surprises.
What I sense, however, is a shift away from the alleged "threat" posed by al-Qaeda in Iraq and toward identifying the "real" enemy, the actual target of this administration's latest war plans: Iran. This came out early on in the general's testimony, as he laid the blame for the recent violence in Basra at Tehran's feet.
The scene is set. Petraeus will lay out the pretext for war with Iran. McCain will parrot his agreement. Then the spotlight will shine on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Most international pundits believe that both Democrats will acquiesce to Petraeus' strident demands for the expansion of the war. The world will be watching, and so will the American electorate.
A US flotilla is in position in the Persian Gulf. Armed with nuclear warheads on their Sidewinder missiles, US submarines slide soundlessly past the straits of Hormuz to take up their positions near the coast of Iran to participate in the planetary equivalent of electroshock therapy.
The War for oil in Basra appears to be setting the stage for Cheney's war on Iran
Cheney, in his foreign visits, is always 2 jumps ahead of everyone. In the 12 days of confrontation, the War for Basra has metastasized into Cheney's War for Iran. He will manipulate Basra for his 'Bomb Bomb Iran' campaign.
War, war...
Dick Cheney, a brute who merely carries out the wishes of his British masters, is determined to get a war against Iran before the Bush Administration leaves office, regardless of the heavy opposition, particularly within the US military.
Thus it is not surprising that Cheney gave his blessing, if not orders, for the Nouri al-Maliki government in Iraq to launch what could have been a suicidal assault against the Mahdi Army of Moqtadar al-Sadr in Basra, setting off an explosion of violence beyond what had been seen in that nation for a year.
Jaw, jaw...
Barack Obama on Tuesday called for a "diplomatic surge" including talks with US foe Iran, to help stabilize the situation in Iraq.
They wouldn't. They couldn't - would they? These are the reactions from friends to my suggestion that an attack on Iran still looms large on the Bush administration's "to do" list. A US attack on Iran would have such far reaching consequences it is considered neither logical nor feasible.
A military assault on Iran is madness. It will destabilise the region, increase terrorism around the world, hike oil prices to unprecedented levels and slash already fragile economies. But these are far from being ordinary times.
Elements of the Bush administration led by Cheney are single-minded and ruthless when it comes to adhering to their long-held New Middle East agenda. Now that Iraq is in their clutches from their point of view the only bulwark blocking their desire for total American hegemony of the Middle East is Iran.
With only another 9 months in office and a tattered presidential legacy, Bush has everything to gain in embarking on another deadly adventure. Iran may be his last roll of the dice with winner takes all. He's already one of the most unpopular US presidents in history so even if things go wrong he's got little to lose.
Think you might escape the aftereffects of a limited nuclear war that happens on the other side of the globe from you? Think again.
Beyond the local human tragedy of such a situation, a new study looking at the atmospheric chemistry of regional nuclear war finds that the hot smoke from burning cities would tear holes in the ozone layer of the Earth. The increased UV radiation resulting from the ozone loss could more than double DNA damage, and increase cancer rates across North America and Eurasia.
"Our research supports that there would be worldwide destruction. It demonstrates that a small-scale regional conflict is capable of triggering larger ozone losses globally than the ones that were previously predicted for a full-scale nuclear war."
Combined with the climatic impact of a regional nuclear war -- which could reduce crop yields and starve hundreds of millions -- modeling shows that the entire globe would feel the repercussions.
The April 2-3 NATO summit in Bucharest, which was supposed to transform NATO essentially into an imperial global organization, is only one element of a breathtaking escalation of the strategic situation.
Behind the scenes of the daily escalating financial collapse, the financier oligarchy of the British empire is trying to throw the principal opponents of the Anglo-American empire into chaos.
Thus we have the orchestrated and violent campaign against China, as well as the unrelenting British campaign against Russia, and Putin personally, and the attempt to bring Zimbabwe back under colonial control.
It is therefore evident, that the geostrategy behind this global policy of provocation is being carried out regardless of the consequences—or is even intended to build up an enormous factor of rage against London and Washington.
If a totally different policy is not placed on the agenda, a new world war looms, which threatens to become even more horrendous than the world wars of the 20th Century.
The core of Petraeus's statement was a set of recommendations that was laughable in terms of its vagueness.
There was a peculiar and decidedly undemocratic atmosphere surrounding the entire proceedings. The delicacy and outright obsequiousness with which the Democratic and Republican politicians addressed the 4-star general called to mind the corrupt senate of Rome meeting with the returning commander of the legions.
Petraeus' testimony was predictable: Progress is real, we must stay the course. But Democrats missed an opportunity to undercut the White House story.
With the sudden departure of Hillary Clinton's main campaign strategist, Mark Penn, it is clear that the powerful interests originally backing Clinton have decided to end the game with her.
One hundred and forty-three years ago today, on 9 April, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant, marking the effective end of the South's struggle for independence.
In a major shift of policy, the Justice Department, once known for taking down giant corporations, including the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, has put off prosecuting more than 50 companies suspected of wrongdoing over the last 3 years. Deferred prosecutions have become a favorite tool of the Bush administration.
The EIA report, closely watched by the futures market, also said crude oil supplies fell by a surprising 3.2 million barrels last week. That sent light, sweet crude for May delivery up $2.51 to $111.01 on the NYME after earlier rising as high as $111.42. Oil prices are within striking distance of a trading record of $111.80 set last month.
And the national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas rose 1.2 cents to a record $3.343 a gallon.
Bank holding companies including Citigroup, Bank of America. and Wells Fargo have the thinnest safety cushion against losses in 7 years. The margin may erode further in coming weeks. Credit ratings on $704 billion of bonds have been cut this year following the collapse of the US housing market.
"This is a nightmare for the country," said William Isaac, who was chairman of the FDIC from 1981 to 1985. Banks will "raise what capital they can, then they'll slow down their growth and stop lending, and what should be a mild recession becomes a much more serious one."
Washington Mutual, the largest US savings and loan, said on Tuesday it obtained a $7 billion capital injection from private equity firm TPG Inc and other investors, but that mortgage problems will lead to a $1.1 billion quarterly loss and the elimination of 3,000 jobs. It also plans to close its 186 stand-alone home loan offices and stop offering home loans through brokers.
America is selling its birthright not for a mess of pottage, but for a mess of Chinese junk, and the resulting "unsustainable" trade deficit is leading "to the collapse of the dollar, depression and conversion of the US to a 2nd-rate power," says a new book written by 3 generations of a family of economists.
A "substantial" response from the G7 nations to the economic turmoil rippling out from the US credit crisis can be expected from this weekend's Group of Seven meeting in Washington, a senior German official said Tuesday.
Germany also supports IMF plans to sell gold as well as proposals to alter vote weightings at international financial bodies, he said, adding that he expected a majority this weekend in favour of both.
A realignment of votes would mainly benefit emerging and developing economies, with 153 nations gaining in influence. Germany's weight would be slightly reduced, from 6% before the reform to 5.8% afterwards.
The whole thing is a lie, a self-serving product of delusion and deception designed to provide cover for a bailout of world-historic proportions. We have entered the era of open government bailouts of the banks, with Bear Stearns (and J.P. Morgan Chase) just the beginning.
In doing so, we are committing economic suicide. The idea of bailing out the banks is actually a trap, a trap set by the imperial bankers to transfer their losses to the governments, and thereby bankrupt and destroy the nations, paving the way for a return of the British Empire.
But neither the bailout nor the trap will succeed, with both sides joining what is, in effect, the British Empire's economic suicide club. The great danger is that, in attempting to save a financial system which has already died, we destroy the nation.
The central banks have already made trillions of dollars of loans into the banking system since this crisis began, and the amounts are escalating. The result is hyperinflation, and we are already on the way to a Weimar Germany-style blowout which will destroy the dollar, the US economy, and the US itself.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put forth a number of "new" ideas for changes in the regulatory structures. Nothing I saw will help all that much in the current crisis. It's more like re-arranging the deck chairs as the ship is going down. There is nothing on the horizon that I see that will reverse this decline.
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state energy company embroiled in a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit with Exxon Mobi, will seek to oust the world's biggest company from its role as operator of Louisiana's Chalmette refinery. PDVSA has the right to demand a turn as operator of the refinery in which it owns a 50% stake, a board member of the Venezuelan energy company said.
Rising food prices could threaten political stability around the world, the UN's leading humanitarian official said yesterday. Sir John Holmes, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, was speaking after 2 days of rioting in Egypt over the soaring cost of basic foodstuffs.
He told a conference in Dubai that rising prices would spark unrest across vulnerable nations. Average prices have risen 40% across the world in less than a year. "The security implications should also not be underestimated as food riots are already being reported across the globe. Current food price trends are likely to increase sharply both the incidence and depth of food insecurity."
(And: Revolution of the hungry)
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The Texas Petawatt laser reached greater than one petawatt (one quadrillion watts) of laser power on March 31, making it the highest powered laser in the world, a physicist at The University of Texas at Austin, said. The Texas Petawatt is the only operating petawatt laser in the US.
He said that when the laser is turned on, it has the power output of more than 2,000 times the output of all power plants in the US. The laser is brighter than sunlight on the surface of the sun, but it only lasts for an instant, a 10th of a trillionth of a second (0.0000000000001 second).
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